Chennai 2026 Preview: Draw, Seeds and First-Round Odds (WTA 250)

Tjen returns as the former champion

Janice Tjen is the only former Chennai champion in the 2026 draw. She won the 2025 final against Kimberly Birrell 6–4 6–3.

She is seeded 1 and meets wild card Katherine Hui in the first round. The betting market makes Tjen a 96% favourite, the biggest favourite of the opening round, and the pair have never met in our match records.

Tournament format and the seeds

Chennai 2026 is a WTA 250 tournament on hard courts, with 24 players in the singles main draw so far. Play began on 31 October 2026.

Tjen is ranked No. 47 in the WTA ranking of 26 October 2026 with 1,120 points. Behind Tjen, Lilli Tagger is seeded 2 and ranked No. 53 with 1,091 points.

Panna Udvardy is seeded 4 (No. 78, 899 points) and Mananchaya Sawangkaew seeded 5 (No. 80, 886 points). Polina Kudermetova is seeded 6 (No. 91, 813 points), Anastasia Zakharova seeded 7 (No. 105, 704 points) and Katarzyna Kawa seeded 8 (No. 106, 701 points).

The wild cards are Sahaja Yamalapalli, Vaishnavi Adkar, Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi and Katherine Hui.

Serve and return numbers for the top seeds

Tagger has won 76.4% of her service games in 2026 over 52 matches with statistics, against a tour average of 65.1%. She averages 4.6 aces per match, with a tour average of 2.7, and has won 34.3% of her return games, against a tour average of 34.9%.

Tjen averages 4.3 aces per match and has won 69.5% of her service games over 42 matches. Her return games won stand at 23.4%, against a tour average of 34.9%.

Sawangkaew has won 40.7% of her return games over 48 matches, against a tour average of 34.9%, with 2 aces per match. Udvardy has won 62.1% of her service games over 49 matches, against a tour average of 65.1%.

First-round matches to watch

The closest match in the opening round is Elsa Jacquemot vs Tagger. The betting market gives Tagger 52% and Jacquemot 48%, and they have never met in our match records.

Udvardy faces Robin Montgomery, who is a 71% favourite in the betting market. They have never met in our match records.

Kudermetova plays Harriet Dart and is a 54% favourite, with no previous meeting in our match records. Kawa is a 78% favourite against wild card Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi, and the pair have never met either.

Sawangkaew is a 60% favourite against Mai Hontama, with no previous meeting. Jil Teichmann (53%) and Joanna Garland (47%) are close in the betting market and have never met.

Other openers and head-to-heads

Simona Waltert is an 89% favourite against wild card Sahaja Yamalapalli, and they have never met. Jodie Anna Burrage is a 74% favourite against wild card Vaishnavi Adkar.

Zakharova is a 59% favourite against Polina Iatcenko, but Iatcenko leads their head-to-head 1–0 in our match records. Rebecca Sramkova is a 64% favourite against Moyuka Uchijima, who leads that head-to-head 1–0.

Teodora Kostovic is a 59% favourite against Oksana Selekhmeteva, who leads their head-to-head 1–0 in our match records.

Tournament history

Our archive has 7 finals of Chennai up to 2025. Tjen has the most titles among them, with 1, which came in the 2025 final against Birrell.